The Universal Society of Hinduism is calling on QuakeCon organizers to withdraw Smite from this year's lineup.

Smite, Hi-Rez Studios' arena battle game featuring deities from various pantheons, is not making too many friends among Hindus. Back in June, the Universal Society of Hinduism called upon the developer to remove the goddess Kali from the game, saying that making her a playable character in a videogame trivializes and denigrates the Hindu faith. Hi-Rez refused to do so, but last week it did agree to remove an image of Kali from its website.

Society President Rajan Zed called the move a "step in the right direction," but since Hi-Rez declined to actually take the Hindu deities out of the game he's now asking the organizers of QuakeCon, which currently has Smite on its roster of playable of games, to drop the whole thing. "Hindus have urged internationally renowned gaming festival QuakeCon 2012, being held at Dallas from August two to five, not to allow play of Smite videogame, which they say trivializes highly revered deities of Hinduism," the group said in a statement.

"Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that such a prominent international computer gaming convention officially sponsored by AT&T and Intel among others, should show responsibility and respect the feelings of upset Hindus," the statement continued. "Hindus are upset at this online video action game Smite in which the players assume the direct control of Hindu deities of Kali, Vamana and Agni. Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, has already urged Alpharetta headquartered developer Hi-Rez Studios to immediately remove the Hindu gods from the game stressing that in a videogame set-up, the player would control the movements of goddess Kali and other Hindu deities, while in reality the devotees put the destinies of themselves in the hands of their deities."

"Videogame makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people," Zed added.

Joining the Universal Society in its criticism of Smite is the Hindu American Foundation, which likewise requested the removal of Hindu gods from the game. Hi-Rez actually gave the foundation a beta version of the game to play, which didn't do anything to change any minds but did provide some hope that the Hindu deities would be portrayed accurately and respectfully.

"Surprisingly, the majority of the comments on the forums were appreciative in nature of the inclusion of Hindu deities," said Hindu American Foundation Board member Rishi Bhutada. "A number of beta testers remarked that they took time to look up more information about Goddess Kali and Hinduism after testing the game, and we took those comments into account as we worked with [Hi-Rez COO Todd] Harris."

Hi-Rez has promised that a coming update will provide more accurate descriptions of all Hindu deities in the game and also posted links to relevant information about Hinduism on the Smite forums. The studio also agreed to make changes to the "imagery and actions" of Kali and the avatar Vamana.

Hahahaha! I highly doubt they'll get what they want. I think it's actually too late to make this a reality, much less whether they'd consider cowtowing to the overly sensitive types.

Smite in general has pleased me just for how many touchy people it's managed to offend, people who seriously get offended over a massive deity punch up need to grow a pair.

I really dislike the "I'm offended over something trivial so they must accommodate me". You're offended? Well, so fucking what, your problem, you deal with it. Why must it always be the devs responsibility. Never mind the fact that most of these "offended" people are probably never going to play the game, so catering to them is inherently useless.

"Videogame makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people," Zed added.

^ are you serious? do you think people are stupid enough to believe video games are going to question people's religious beliefs? If they were hindu before, I dont think a game is going to change their mind (they can also, you know, NOT PLAY THE GAME) and if they aren't hindu they probably don't give 2 shits about the faith related content in the first place.

You don't have to be sensitive to faith related content, you have to be sensitive to people who choose to believe. The content is for anyone's use, screw religious censorship.

Honestly this is ridiculous i mean really just because it upsets a few people doesn't mean you have to change it for everyone else and i admit this game has made me more interested in these different gods i have read several articles on He Bo after playing so really this is kinda spreading religion so why are they so upset?

How about we just not care about everyone's freaky-ass weird religion (and by that I mean all of them, not to pick on Hindus specifically here), especially in relation to fantastical video games. Nod politely, ignore.

I can understand where they are coming from and how it could be a sensitive topic for Hindus. That said as somebody who hates religion and loves to ridicule them well fuck the fucking fuckers.

This is the first I have heard of the game but it sounds like it is going to be a really bad idea. You will end up annoying people of nearly every single religion you include. People especially those as religious as the middle east do not like people trivializing their deities.

They already got a concession. That means they're supposed to back off, doesn't it? That's how compromise works. You can't just keep coming up with more demands after the previous ones have already been granted.

They should put Shiva back up on the webpage just to teach these assholes to be happy with what they got.

"Videogame makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people," Zed added.

No. No they shouldn't. Game makers (and all artists) should not have to censor themselves because someone somewhere might get offended. And I have always been of the firm opinion that there is no topic on the face of the earth that can be covered by movies, music, or books, but video games are not allowed to touch.

I'm sorry, but when your beliefs are as outdated and ridiculous as Pantheism then you deserve to have your Religion trivialised. I see no outrage over the Greek or Norse pantheons, so Hinduism deserves no better treatment.

"Videogame makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people," Zed added.

Let me put this on another perspective :

"Religious groups should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these can leave a lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people."

Don't they have anything else to do other than harass Hi-rez? Seriously, this is growing old. What do they get from this? What happens after Kali's been taken out of Smite? Geez... Waste of bloody time.

haukotus:Don't they have anything else to do other than harass Hi-rez? Seriously, this is growing old. What do they get from this? What happens after Kali's been taken out of Smite? Geez... Waste of bloody time.

Most likely, they'll sue the makers over wasting their time and probably win.

To quote the Count of Monte Cristo, "I'll make you a deal: You keep calling out to your god for help, and I'll stop the moment he shows up."

Personally I think if they're going to get this gung-ho about it, they should put their vedas where their mouth is and hold out for divine intervention. Either that, or grow up a bit and learn to appreciate the freedom of expression. Personally I think I'd be more prone as a Christian to actually give Smite a whirl if there was an option to kick ass as Jesus.

What this association needs to understand is that their gods are a part of the pop culture, so developers, writers and directors are gonna use them as influence. I'm a Christian, but I'm not gonna spam every project that uses the Image of Christ in a way that I don't agree with, I'm just not going to support it.

JokerboyJordan:I'm sorry, but when your beliefs are as outdated and ridiculous as Pantheism then you deserve to have your Religion trivialised. I see no outrage over the Greek or Norse pantheons, so Hinduism deserves no better treatment.

Because there aren't tens of millions (hundreds even?) followers of the Norse and Greek religions. That's all the difference that matters. Besides, what makes pantheism any more ridiculous than monotheism? It sure is a lot more fun.

Tanis:I keep telling you people:Give these religious people an inch and they'll try and take a mile.

Yup, that's what people already said in the first topic in which Hi-Rez already promised the things they did. And tadaa; all you folks are proven right. It still ain't enough and it will never be.

"Videogame makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people," Zed added.

To be highly un-PC: Religious people should be more sensitive while handling made-up fairy-tale related subjects, as made-up fairy-tales have lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people.

Seriously though, it's majorly hypocritical to condemn an openly fictional video game for being a bad influence to children while at the same time shoving religious garbage down their throats and claiming it's all real and factual.

JokerboyJordan:I'm sorry, but when your beliefs are as outdated and ridiculous as Pantheism then you deserve to have your Religion trivialised. I see no outrage over the Greek or Norse pantheons, so Hinduism deserves no better treatment.

Because there aren't tens of millions (hundreds even?) followers of the Norse and Greek religions. That's all the difference that matters. Besides, what makes pantheism any more ridiculous than monotheism? It sure is a lot more fun.

Actually the Asura's Wrath article states an estimated billion Hindus, mostly in India anyway, the country with a caste system and a shortage of decent toilets.Oh it's not necessarily more ridiculous in principle, it certainly is more fun, that's why Pantheons are always interesting to make games out of.